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Rebirth-A Philosophical Study
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before the invasion of the Aryan conquerors Therefore, the hypothesis could he advanced that the Indo-Aryans arrived at their doctrine of metempsycbosis in a manner similar to that of the Celtic Druids
The Karma with its principle of moral retribution has been worked out by Indian philosophers in calculable details For instance, Manusmrit describes the rewards an individual gets in the next birth for the deeds that he does in this world As we have described earlier, One who steals gold will get poor pails, one who drinks alcohol will have black teeth One who kills a Brahmin will suffer from consumption One who is unchaste with the wife of a teacher will have skin disease - In the Buddh. it Texts we get similar descriptions A man who is greedy and cruel will be reborn as an elephant One who is charitable and who gives food and drink to the Brahmins and monks, will get abundance in his next Ilse In the Devi Bhagavata Purana it is stated that one who commits murder for money and other needs, first comes to Majjakunda bell He stays for a hundred thousand years He then becomes a fish seven times in successive existences, seven times a mosquito, three times a bog, seven times a cock, and so on If one steals the property of a Brahmin he goes to the hell Pasanakunda He is then reborn three times as a tortoise Ig the next three existences he becomes a leper, and so on Such statements need not be taken literally They suggest the foundations of the principle of Karma and relabution which nobody can avoid The graphic picture of the suffering mentioned here are meant as a deterrant to the common man who is not able to grasp the philosophical implication of the fundamental assumption of Karma and retribution It was reported that the Buddhe forctoid the rebirths of other persons who were associated with him. The Buddhist tradition gives a number of births which the Buddha had to go through before the attainment of the Buddhahood The Sajna Tirthankaras were able to describe the consequences of the actions of an individual 10 his successive births Religious atories of the Jainas give interesting description of the transmigradon of the souls in a chain of lives due to their actions The long catalogues of good and evil deeds which definite existences have as a consequence, therofore, rightly show that a simple and abstract teaching Is sufficient only for a few, that it 18 capable of satisfyiog the feeling of the masses only when it gives concrete details and 19 trimmed with fanciful combinations 6 Aud such statements have to be understood in the sense that a definite dead has a tendency to mature a definite Karma, but this tendency is also modified by the effects of other deeds
Glasenapiiri, Book Xily and Salvatlon in
54 Glasenapp Immortality and Salvation In Indian Religion, p 27 55 Manusmrti, Book XE 56 Glasenapp Immortality and Salvation in Indian Religion, P 90
